Don’t let corporations spoil the spirit of Pride

Like many other trade unionists and activists for the rights of lesbians, gays, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people we had been really looking forward to marching at the front of London Pride this year alongside members of the original Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners (LGSM) in a recreation of the spirit of solidarity so brilliantly depicted in the film Pride in this, the 30th anniversary of the miners’ strike.

We were shocked to see that the Pride in London (PiL) committee has now decided not to allow supporters of LGSM from the unions to march at the front with them, preferring instead to give pride of place to corporate sponsors such as Barclays, Citibank and Starbucks.

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This domination of the corporations at Pride must be questioned, and the success of the film Pride should have provided the perfect springboard for that. The fact that the chair of PiL is political head of broadcasting at 10 Downing Street shows how far we have moved from the origins of Pride protests in the Stonewall riots in New York in 1969. It would seem that PiL is echoing the government in its determination to sideline unions and silence protest.

We are determined to challenge the portrayal of Pride as a showcase for multinational companies. Among the companies currently sponsoring Pride are those who must be held responsible for the financial crisis, don’t pay their taxes and don’t allow unions to organise.

LGSM will now be heading a union bloc in the middle of the parade, and we hope people will turn up in large numbers to join in with their posters, placards and loud voices. Thirty years ago we had to take on the union-busters and supporters of clause 28 under Margaret Thatcher. Today David Cameron has made clear his intention to shackle the unions and ramp up austerity measures that will hit LGBT people hard. It’s time to reclaim the true spirit of Pride.Michael Dance NUT LGBT advisory committeeJeremy Corbyn MPMark Serwotka General secretary, PCSNatalie Bennett Leader, Green partyBenali Hamdache Unite member and equalities spokesperson for the Green partyMick Cash General secretary, RMTLen McCluskey General secretary, Unite the UnionIan Hodson President, BFAWUPhilippa Harvey NUT national presidentPaul Kenny General secretary, GMBMary Turner President, GMBMike Jackson, Nicola Field, Gethin Roberts, Jonathon Blake, Keran James, Jeff Cole, Mark Findlay, Ray GoodspeedLesbians and Gays Support the MinersBrenda Proctor North Staffs Miners WivesRosa Kincaid on behalf of sixth form students from Pontefract who have raised £1,500 to travel to Pride to march with LGSM having been inspired by the filmAlan GibbonsChildren’s authorAnnette Pryce NUT national LGBT executive memberSiobhan Endean Unite the Union national officer for equalitiesFran Cowling NUS LGBT officerDaniel Suziki LGBT Youth PembrokeshireJeremy Douglas Chair, Unite the Union National LGBT committee and NEC memberGeoff Dexter Co-organiser of trade union bloc, Birmingham PrideDebs Gwynn NW NUT LGBT rep

• Two comments about Pride in London’s decision to ban Ukip (Report, 6 June): 1) By allowing gay-friendly members of Ukip to march, Pride would have helped move the membership in a more liberal direction. 2) I don’t remember Pride banning the trade unions in the 1970s, when many of those organisations were reflexively homophobic.John DavisonLondon

• The Independent Press Standards Organisation (Ipso) fails to offer any explanation as to why it ignores the victimisation of complainants (Ipso accused of ignoring Sun attempt to ‘victimise’ blind transgender woman, theguardian.com, 4 June). Instead it selectively quotes me as saying it made a landmark decision. What I was saying – in an article published by Hacked Off, a fact they do not mention – was that the obvious decision is a salutary reminder to newspapers that they cannot attack minorities and then defend themselves by coming up with their own definition of prejudiced and pejorative.

My article went on to say that the Ipso decision falls short because it did not even try to secure what I really wanted – a full and proper apology from the Sun. I also pointed out that, in his inquiry into press standards, Lord Justice Leveson said that the regulator must have the power to require apologies. Ipso has been set up without that power and therefore cannot be fair and effective. It is a direct result of this that the Sun can get away with not printing an apology, although it would have helped if Ipso had at least requested the Sun to print one. Consequently, there is no real deterrence on newspapers to avoid breaching the editors’ code.

What kind of an independent regulator is it that will not stand up for complainants when they are bullied and tries to spin their way out of complaints? It’s just another version of the Press Complaints Commission.Emily BrothersAddress supplied

• Your article, “How can we encourage boys to read for pleasure?” (theguardian.com, 11 June), reached for all the old stereotypes. It reinforces the idea that reading is a “girl thing”, and a “real” boy would be out playing football, not reading about it. The Boys’ Reading Commission report found that the best ways to get boys to read were the same as for girls – high-quality teaching. This matters because stereotypes about boys harm their learning – young boys think that they are less able than girls, and that adults think so too (according to research published by the Society for Research in Child Development), and the Institute of Education found that stereotypes were alive and well with teachers likely to judge boys better at maths and worse at reading than girls achieving the same results in tests. Encouraging teachers to teach according to a child’s gender rather than their abilities or interests isn’t just unhelpful – it’s harmful. Jess Day, Jo Jowers, Tricia Lowther, Tessa Trabue, Megan Perryman, Mark Jennet and Jennifer Dyer of Let Toys Be ToysFen Coles and Kerry Mason of Letterbox Library